Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment
M/o Social Justice & Empowerment organizes Distribution camp to provide Aid & Assistive Devices to 1343 Senior Citizens and 564 Divyangjan in Bhatinda, Punjab
Shri Krishan Pal Gurjar, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment e-inaugurated through Video Conference a Distribution camp for free distribution of Aids & Assistive devices at Block level among the identified Senior citizens under Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana  and Divyangjans under ADIP Scheme of Government of India at Bhatinda in Punjab on 2nd January,2020.
Addressing on the occasion, Shri Gurjar said that under the leadership of Prime Minister the budget allocation for welfare of Divyangjan has been increased consistently and also been utilized. The main aim of distributing assistive devices among Divyangjan is to empower them and bring them into the main stream of the society. Divyangjan are an integral part of Human Resource. Speaking about the need of conducting such distribution camps, the Minister said that organizing such camps helps in spreading the awareness about the welfare schemes run by central government for Divyangjan. Further, Shri Gurjar said that after implementation of Rights to Persons with Disabilities 2016, the categories for disability has increased from for 7 to 21 and increased reservation for Divyangjan in government jobs from 3% to 4% and also reservation in higher education is now increased to 5%. He further informed that, scheme for implanting cochlear devices for children who are deaf and can’t speak has been implemented by ministry with the provision of Rs 6 lakh for each such child.
Ms. Upma Shrivastava, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, attended the function virtually and senior officials of Bhatinda Districts were physically present at the function venue. Lt Col. P K Dube, GM, represented ALIMCO and joined the event virtually from ALIMCO’s Head office in Kanpur.
Total 1907 number of beneficiaries of Bhatinda District will be provided with 4590 number of assistive appliances of different category valuing worth of Rs. 162.47 Lakhs, these assistive devices will be distributed among the beneficiaries by organizing series of distribution camps at block level. Among the total beneficiaries, 564 Divyangjan are under ADIP scheme and 1343 are Senior Citizen beneficiaries under Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana. The identification and registration of Senior Citizen beneficiaries was done in the month of January, 2018 and the assessment camps for Divyangjan were conducted in the month of January last year by ALIMCO.
Total number of Aids and appliances that will be distributed in different blocks include 138 Tricycle, 734 Wheel Chair, 15 C.P Chair, 199 Crutches, 1305 Walking Sticks, 15 Rollator, 18 Smart Cane, 07 Smart Phone, 06 Daisy Player, Braille kit for visually impaired, 1843 Hearing Aid, 45 MSIED Kit for Intellectually Impaired and Tetrapod/Tripod and 106 Artificial Limbs and Calipers.
The camp was organized by ALIMCO, Kanpur working under the aegis of Department of Empowerment of Person with Disability , Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in association with Social Welfare Department and District administration, Bhatinda. Camps are being conducted as per new approved Standard Operating Procedure  issued by Ministry in wake of COVID 19 pandemic. Distribution function was conducted adhering to the guidelines issued by government of India to contain any possibility of spread of COVID 19 during the distribution of Aids and Assistive devices. Social distancing, arrangements of thermal screening for each individual, proper masking of face, sanitization use of PPE kits by the professionals reaching out the beneficiaries.